February 6, 2004 to March 5, 2004

Hello!

It's time again to update you on all the cool things happening on Club Lighthouse! This newsletter represents a summary of the best of what's going on at the web site.

Want to go on a cruise? We are planning our next "Club Lighthouse" member meeting, and this time we are going to do it on a cruise ship! See the Club website for details.

Also, we want to make a quick mention of our new seminar schedule. By popular demand, we have decided to continue presenting our "Turbo charging your practice with PracticeWorks" seminar to give more offices an opportunity to see it. This is in addition to our new "Paperless Charting" seminar. We will be visiting 9 different cities this year on 15 different dates. See the "Seminar Schedule" section below for more information.

To properly use this newsletter, you should first log into the Club web site directly from this newsletter. Once you are logged in, you can click on any of the links in this newsletter to jump directly to the article or download of interest. To start your web browser now and log into Club Lighthouse, click here! That will open up a browser window on your computer. You can then Alt-Tab back to this e-mail and select any link in this email. Clicking on the link in this email will cause that article or forum post to appear in the browser window (you will have to Alt-Tab BACK to that browser window to see it).

If you forgot your user name and/or password, send an email to joel@lighthouse-pmg.com



In This Issue
New Articles
New or updated downloads
Interesting posts
Seminar schedule


New Articles
Lighthouse Year-End Practice Management Recommendations

Lighthouse Year-End Practice Management Recommendations

As the old year is done and behind us, and we prepare to start the new year - now is the time to review and understand what happened in the prior year and make any changes to our office, policies, procedures, and staff necessary in order for the new year to be more prosperous and profitable with less stress and hasel. PracticeWorks is unique in that there are no accounting periods to "close", but that uniqueness also breeds complacency towards necessary "housekeeping" routines. This article will provide you with detailed instructions on what should be done to provide you with the management information necessary to make prudent choices that will positively impact the future for you, your staff, and your patients.

 

New or updated downloads
The following is a list of recent additions to the Club Lighthouse download area. It is important to remember that most downloads have a corresponding article or forum post associated with them. If they do, please read the article or post first before downloading the file. Also, for complete instructions on how download and install the files listed here, be sure to read the article on Installing from an Exchange Pack

Appointment confirmation tools
Version: 12-23-2003
Several Contact Experts to help you confirm appointments: -Appt reminders for 1 week (to send postcards to) -Two CE's, each for confirming 1/2 the alphabet, so two people can confirm simultaneously. -A CE showing all hygiene appointments for one day, showing last BWX, last pan/FMX, last prophy, last periodic exam, last comprehensive exam. To help prepare for the day. UPDATED 2/23/2004: Now also looks at the "Outside x-rays received" Form to get the absolute latest x-rays we have. -A CE listing all appointments for one day, w/ home and work #'s. To print and take home, to confirm at night.

Lighthouse SMTP email proxy for PracticeWorks
Version: 1.05
A special program written by Lighthouse to compensate for the problems with the PracticeWorks email sending issues. Using this program, you should be able to finally get PracticeWorks to send emails. Details on the use of this Java program can be found in the article Sending emails with PracticeWorks.

The Rx Farm
Version: 2-22-2004
A collection of Rx's that aren't in the PW Plus Pack. These simply add to your list of Rx's when you write a new one. (We've also updated the PW Plus Pack Rx's to add the "Phoned in" option that's on all the LH Rx's. To download them, click here.) See the article that describes how to install and use them.

Medical / dental history
Version: 02-23-04
All the components needed to gather, store, update and review patients' medical and dental history. This is the download companion to the Going Chartless article on collecting Medical/Dental History.

UPDATED 01-20-04 to add a version of the Patient Info Update document that will print correctly from the patient Clipboard. Also added a few more of the fields from the Medical / Personal History Form to the Patient Info Update document, so patients have even less to hand write on an update. FIXED 1-23-04: One of the document merge variables couldn't be edited by users. Fixed. UPDATED 2-3-2004: Added a checkbox "Review this Form when writing Rx's" to the Medical/Personal History Form. Allows you to "integrate" with the Rx System (pop up this Form every time you look at a patient's Rx History, from the [Rx History] button in Charting). UPDATED: 2-23-2004: The "Last " merge variables at the bottom of the Patient Info Update documents now look at the "Outside x-rays received" Form, in addition to the ledger, to get the most accurate information.

PW Plus Pack Updated Rxs
Version: 02-22-2004
All the Rx's in the PW Plus Pack that ships w/ PW, updated as follows: -Added "Phoned in" question -Added "Pharmacy name and number" question -Made AutoLink that prints the document not print if the "Phoned in" checkbox is checked -Reorganized them so they're simple to install.

RPs who have statements turned off
Version: 2-8-2004
A Contact Expert of all Responsible Parties who have had statement printing turned off. Created at the request of Club Member Jack Kall.

LH Zip Code Patient Analysis
Version: 1.0
This Analysis Expert will give a detailed account of a practice's patient distribution according to Zip Code distribution. This expert can be "pre-seeded" with the zip codes your office is most interested in. Use this in place of the built in report provided by PW "out of the box".

LH No Appt in X Months
Version: 1.0
All patients that have not visited the practice in X months (to be entered when running the contact expert 60 months = 5 years). This list will show when the patient LAST visited, when they FIRST visited and their ledger balance if any. An additional enhancement is to add the DISPLAY FAMILY INQUIRY to the ACTIONS button to allow you to see all family members at one time.

For LDavis - Account aging by activity
Version: 2-11-2004
An Analysis Expert that breaks down all accounts with balances by their most recent activity. Any account with a patient payment, an insurance payment, or new charges within the last 30 days is "Current", etc. (NOT a recommended way to manage your A/R. But a member requested it, and we couldn't talk them out of it, so we built it. If you're not the one who requested this, you don't want it!)

Ptns with exam and a certain Prim Dr
Version: 02-18-2004
A Contact Expert of all patients who have had an exam (110 or 150) in a prompted date range, and who also have a certain Primary Dr. on their Clipboard (also prompted). Created for Club Member William Brown.

Insurance Pre-D Returned Document
Version: 1.0
Letterhead document that is printed upon receipt of a pre-determination back from an insurance company. First the "blue book" is updated, then the treatment plan is reprinted and the pre-d is copied to be included with this letter to the patient requesting that they now schedule their treatment.

All patients of a single Primary Doctor
Version: 02-20-2004
All active patients over 17 yrs old who have a Last Visit date in a date range, and who have a particular Primary Doctor. Sorted by Address to make it easier to identify duplicates, since the intent of this is to generate mailing labels for a "one per household" mailing.

Outside x-ray tracking
Version: 2-23-2004
An updatable (keep history) Form with fields for information about any x-rays you receive from outside your office. (Where it came from, the date of the x-ray, and the date you received it.) These fields repeat for BWX, FMX, pano and "other". There's a checkbox that indicates the doctor needs to review the x-ray, which should be checked each time you receive new ones, and unchecked each time the doctor reviews them. There's an AutoLink on the "Seat patient" Event that displays this Form if it's present and if the "Dr. needs to review" checkbox is checked. If the Form comes up, that's the signal to the team member who is seating the patient that they need to retrieve the outside x-ray and have them ready for the doctor's review. Once reviewed, click the [Forms] button in Charting to bring this Form up for the patient and uncheck that checkbox. This Form is used by the Patient Info Update document and the LH01 Hygiene Appt Info Contact Expert, where the "Last " is shown. (You have to have the versions of those downloads dated 2/23/2004 or later for this to be true.)

Perio 12 Month Moving Analysis
Version: 02/25/04
This is the 12 Month Moving Analysis Expert modified for Periodontal offices. Click here to see the post that prompted this analysis expert

LH99 Future Appointments
Version: 1.1
The PracticeWorks Appointment Book is a very powerful tool to assist your office. However, whether it is a new employee or someone just not paying attention, it is easy for the power of the tool to put you in a place you did not expect. This can result in appointments being made 18 MONTHS or more in advance and some unusual surprises 6 months from now. This just happened in our office (not the surprise - but the miss appointing) so I created a tool to indentify and correct it. Download this contact expert to create a list of appointments that are X months or more from today's date. UPDATED: Added system event autolink to Appt Sched (Finish) that will check the date of the appointment being made and alert with a message if it is more than 10 months in the future.

PSR Form (Perio Screening Record)
Version: 03/04/04
A form broken down into sextants so PSR can be done instead of a full perio charting. This Contact Expert is in response to a member request. See this post for details.



Interesting posts

The following list represents topics on the Club site that either have had a lot of posts made, or have been read by a large number of Club members.

PracticeWorks

General discussion (PracticeWorks)

Expert Creation Requests

Automation and PracticeScript

Analysis Expert Cell Farm

The Business side of things (not PracticeWorks related)

General discussion (Office Admin)

Hot Deals!

Computers and Technology

The Clinical side of things (not PracticeWorks related)

Clinical technologies

Going chartless

Club Lighthouse

General discussion (Lighthouse)



Seminar schedule

New Seminar - Paperless Charting

At Club Lighthouse, we are all about maximizing the efficiency of your computer system. There is no better way to do that than to rid your office of the most significant time drag most of you still have: your paper charts.

Learn to rid your office of paper charts once and for all. Click here for more information, as well as dates and locations.

On-line seminar registration now available

Turbo charging your practice with PracticeWorks
Six new dates added!

Back by popular demand, this two day seminar is sure to improve your understanding of PracticeWorks, as well as give you a better understanding of what we are trying to accomplish here on Club Lighthouse. Don't forget: Club members get a 10% discount off of the registration fee!

To see dates and locations, or to register on-line, click here.


We hope you found this newsletter informative and helpful. Remember, its our job to make your job easier! If you have ANY question, be sure to either post a question on the Club, or if you are uncomfortable posting your question in public, please feel free to contact one of us directly using email.

Thanks again, and see you on the Club!

Allen Jorgensen: allen@lighthouse-pmg.com
Brian Smith: brian@lighthouse-pmg.com
Joel Kozikowski: joel@lighthouse-pmg.com
Lisa Doiron: lisa@lighthouse-pmg.com

© 2003, 2004 Lighthouse Practice Management Group
"PracticeWorks" is a registered trademark of PracticeWorks, Inc.
Lighthouse Practice Management Group and its principals are not affiliated with PracticeWorks, Inc. in any way